ISLAMABAD: The World Bank plans to approve a credit of $500 million for Pakistan next month to strengthen civil registration and vital statistics, health and education systems essential for human capital accumulation, and improve national safety nets to respond to shocks effectively.

The Securing Human Investments to Foster Transformation (SHIFT) project will contribute to improvements in the quality of civil registration and vital statistics, birth and death certification rates and the ability of the country to better plan for human capital accumulation.

The project seeks to implement in the country universal health coverage policy to improve health outcomes, increased sustainability of immunisation, better quality of education, boost engagement and recognition of women’s participation in economic activities, develop safety net programmes, expand education and nutrition initiatives, cash transfers to the poor and vulnerable to cope with the potential negative impact of the fiscal adjustment and of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The document prepared for the project says macroeconomic risk in Pakistan is high, as the impact of Covid-19 will weaken ongoing stabilisation efforts and medium-term structural reforms and add additional pandemic-related shocks.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2020